Question 53·Medium·Rhetorical Synthesis
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
- Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson was a tenth-century Danish king renowned for uniting Denmark and Norway.
- In the 1990s, engineers developed a short-range wireless technology standard.
- They nicknamed the new standard Bluetooth after the king because it would unite various communication protocols.
- The Bluetooth logo merges the runes representing the king’s initials, H and B.
- The nickname was intended as a placeholder but was eventually adopted as the official name.
The student wants to illustrate how a historical figure inspired the name of a modern technology to symbolize its purpose. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
For rhetorical synthesis questions like this, start by carefully restating the task in your own words (what exactly must the sentence show or do?). Then scan the notes to pick out only the details that directly serve that task. When you look at the answer choices, quickly eliminate any that (1) leave out a required element from the question (such as the historical figure, the modern technology, or the purpose), or (2) add interesting but irrelevant details. The correct answer will tightly and efficiently connect all the parts the question asks for, using only necessary information from the notes.
Hints
Focus on the goal in the question
Underline the key parts of the question: the sentence must show how a historical figure inspired the name of a modern technology to symbolize its purpose. Which choices clearly connect all those pieces?
Check which notes are most relevant
Look at the bullet points and ask: which ones talk about both the king and the Bluetooth technology, and say why that name was chosen?
Use process of elimination
Eliminate any option that talks only about the king, only about the technology’s development, or only about the logo design, without tying them together to show symbolic meaning.
Step-by-step Explanation
Understand the student’s goal
The question states that the student wants to illustrate how a historical figure inspired the name of a modern technology to symbolize its purpose.
So the best sentence must do three things at once:
- Mention the modern technology.
- Mention the historical figure who inspired its name.
- Explain how the figure’s historical role symbolizes the technology’s purpose.
Identify the most relevant notes
Look back at the notes and ask which ones connect all three pieces: person, technology, and symbolic purpose.
Key notes:
- The king: “Harald ‘Bluetooth’ Gormsson was a tenth-century Danish king renowned for uniting Denmark and Norway.”
- The technology: “In the 1990s, engineers developed a short-range wireless technology standard.”
- The symbolism: “They nicknamed the new standard Bluetooth after the king because it would unite various communication protocols.”
These show that the king united kingdoms and the technology unites communication protocols, and the name “Bluetooth” connects them.
Eliminate choices that don’t meet the goal
Now compare each option to the goal.
- Choice A: Only tells us who the king was and what he did. It does not mention the modern technology at all, so it cannot show how he inspired its name.
- Choice C: Talks about “Bluetooth” as a temporary code name for a wireless technology, but it doesn’t connect that name to the king’s unifying role or to the symbolic purpose.
- Choice D: Focuses on the logo design (the runes H and B). That’s a fun detail, but it doesn’t explain how the historical figure symbolizes the technology’s purpose.
All three fail to connect person + technology + symbolic purpose.
Select the sentence that fully matches the goal
The remaining choice must:
- Name the modern technology (Bluetooth wireless technology in the 1990s),
- Indicate it was named after a king who united kingdoms,
- And state that this king’s unifying role parallels the technology’s purpose of uniting communication protocols.
Only Choice B does all of this: “Bluetooth wireless technology, developed in the 1990s, was so named after a king famed for uniting Scandinavian kingdoms because it was designed to unite different communication protocols.” This directly shows how a historical figure inspired the technology’s name to symbolize its purpose, so B is correct.